To identify the prevalence of phenotypically expressed alleles among populations of snails depending on their environment.
To determine what reason there is for the prominence what is the difference between prominence and frequency? Which do you mean? of certain phenotypes dependent upon the location.
Introduction
We will study snail populations for the following reasons-
The snail genome has many possible morphs so do all species
The rich polymorphism can be seen in the shell pattern reference? What is the implication of that?; we will examine colour and banding.
There are no ethical considerations to factor in to our project (as opposed to conducting a genetic study on humans) are snails relevant to humans though? Are humans the only species of interest?
We believe that our sampling will show the dominance no, no, no don't use the word dominance to mean high frequency. It has a specific meaning in genetics. of a certain phenotype in a specific environment. However we also want to determine what the possible reasons for the phenotype showing dominance ditto are. For example a phenotype may become fixated fixed? (look up fixated, its rather amusing) in a specific environment because of-
Chemical factors in the environment such as soil pH, temperature & light intensity
Selection advantage e.g predator avoidance
Genetic drift
Outline
We will sample snail populations from distinct locations, which have clear physical differences. For example we will study the phenotypic differences between snails populating a woodland habitat and those populating a grassland habitat.
From these samples we hope to be able to link the prominence of a certain phenotype to a distinct environment how? both drift and selection could produce a difference between two envts. How will you tell them apart. By studying the grey areas between two distinct environments we can determine whether there is gene flow/migration how?.
We will use random sampling in each area to collect data imprecise. We aim to sample 25 data sets per area as this should be sufficient to draw conclusions from. We will not use systematic sampling as it is not logistically viable. unclear
To help determine if there are any measurable external factors affecting the dominance of a phenotype we can conduct soil pH tests in each area, make observations of any visible predators and luminance (if there is a light intensity meter available) did you?
Another factor that we will consider is the ratio of live to dead snails in each location. Furthermore we can examine the ratio of live to dead snails in relation to their phenotype for each location. to look for what? What is the logic underlying this comparison?
E.g. If a dark shell is a selection advantage in the woodland habitat; it would make sense that there are a greater percentage of dead snails with a light shell in the woodland as they are at a selection disadvantage (due to lack of camouflage) hold on. All snails die eventually, so how will you determine rate of mortality?
Hypothesis
We expect a shell pattern that promotes a selection selective advantage for that specific location will be dominant ditto there. However due to the close proximity of the locations, migration and gene flow is highly likely. Therefore we do not expect to find fixation of a phenotype in a location, but certainly a discernible majority. you have not explained how you will tell apart the roles of the different processes that you are trying to study. All of them can change allele frequencies, so how will you know which one is operating?
Aim
To identify the prevalence of phenotypically expressed alleles among populations of snails depending on their environment.
To determine what reason there is for the prominence what is the difference between prominence and frequency? Which do you mean? of certain phenotypes dependent upon the location.
Introduction
We will study snail populations for the following reasons-
The snail genome has many possible morphs so do all species
The rich polymorphism can be seen in the shell pattern reference? What is the implication of that?; we will examine colour and banding.
There are no ethical considerations to factor in to our project (as opposed to conducting a genetic study on humans) are snails relevant to humans though? Are humans the only species of interest?
We believe that our sampling will show the dominance no, no, no don't use the word dominance to mean high frequency. It has a specific meaning in genetics. of a certain phenotype in a specific environment. However we also want to determine what the possible reasons for the phenotype showing dominance ditto are. For example a phenotype may become fixated fixed? (look up fixated, its rather amusing) in a specific environment because of-
Chemical factors in the environment such as soil pH, temperature & light intensity
Selection advantage e.g predator avoidance
Genetic drift
Outline
We will sample snail populations from distinct locations, which have clear physical differences. For example we will study the phenotypic differences between snails populating a woodland habitat and those populating a grassland habitat.
From these samples we hope to be able to link the prominence of a certain phenotype to a distinct environment how? both drift and selection could produce a difference between two envts. How will you tell them apart. By studying the grey areas between two distinct environments we can determine whether there is gene flow/migration how?.
We will use random sampling in each area to collect data imprecise. We aim to sample 25 data sets per area as this should be sufficient to draw conclusions from. We will not use systematic sampling as it is not logistically viable. unclear
To help determine if there are any measurable external factors affecting the dominance of a phenotype we can conduct soil pH tests in each area, make observations of any visible predators and luminance (if there is a light intensity meter available) did you?
Another factor that we will consider is the ratio of live to dead snails in each location. Furthermore we can examine the ratio of live to dead snails in relation to their phenotype for each location. to look for what? What is the logic underlying this comparison?
E.g. If a dark shell is a selection advantage in the woodland habitat; it would make sense that there are a greater percentage of dead snails with a light shell in the woodland as they are at a selection disadvantage (due to lack of camouflage) hold on. All snails die eventually, so how will you determine rate of mortality?
Hypothesis
We expect a shell pattern that promotes a selection selective advantage for that specific location will be dominant ditto there. However due to the close proximity of the locations, migration and gene flow is highly likely. Therefore we do not expect to find fixation of a phenotype in a location, but certainly a discernible majority. you have not explained how you will tell apart the roles of the different processes that you are trying to study. All of them can change allele frequencies, so how will you know which one is operating?
Secretary: Joshua Gomez bt09422@qmul.ac.ukShehnaz Ahmad bt09316@qmul.ac.uk
Phoenix Fitch bt09326@qmul.ac.uk
Ailia Zaidi bt09325@qmul.ac.uk
Ambar Azam bt09144@qmul.ac.uk
Zahra Ahmed bt09095@qmul.ac.uk
Nazia Uddin bt09086@qmul.ac.uk